Recent advancements in solid-state lighting have enabled light sources to switch to different light intensity levels at a rate which is fast enough to be imperceptible by a human eye. The light sources may be any light diode capable of emitting different intensities of light over time, such as LEDs, fluorescent lights, or incandescent lights. This functionality can be used for illumination, aesthetic value, and visible light communications (VLC) where the data is encoded in the emitting light in various ways. VLC is a data communications method that involves modulating a light intensity of light emitted by a light source. Dimming control mechanisms control the light intensity of the light emitted by the light source. In VLC, a light source is configured to produce a signal comprising modulated data in the form of light emitted by the light source. The signal includes one or more signal blocks defining a predetermined period of time during which the data is modulated.
VLC is substantially immune to the problems of electromagnetic interference and non-interference associated with radio frequency (RF) systems. VLC provides an additional level of security by allowing a user to see the transmission of data across the communication channel. Another benefit of VLC is that it augments and complements existing services (such as illumination, display, indication, decoration, etc.) from existing visible-light infrastructures.